Discovery of the sense fields

"If we open the eyes of our senses, we cannot avoid the discovery of the sense fields as a magical display. It is not magical in the sense of illusion, because trickery is not involved and nothing unexpectedly leaps out of a hat. Scarves do not change colour, and there are no scantly dressed women in boxes who survive an impossible number of swords."

p177, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7

Smile

"We can definitely change the world-but the problem is that we seem unable to smile. When chaos manifests in our lives we can smile-which is the cure for resentful confusion. If your practice of shi-nè facilitates the experience of emptiness, it will also facilitate the capacity to grin at your own chaos-and if you can grin at your own chaos, then you will have authentic pervasive compassion for the chaos of existence."

p241, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7

Defined rules

"In contrast with happiness, misery has clearly defined rules but rapture, is a somewhat unbounded state in which clear-cut definitions have no function. In comparison with sadness, joy is far more intangible and unpredictable. We all know the rules and regulations of melancholy but the perceptual patterns of carefree happiness are subtle and difficult to define."

p55, Entering the Heart of the Sun and Moon, Ngakpa Chogyam and Khandro Dechen, Aro Books Inc., 2010, 978-0965394833

A sense of contentment

"It is not actually easy for most people to rest with a sense of contentment. Most are blighted by addiction to 'ongoing process', and this addiction does not know what to do with itself when there is no longer a need for process to be enacted."

p55, Entering the Heart of the Sun and Moon, Ngakpa Chogyam and Khandro Dechen, Aro Books Inc., 2010, 978-0965394833

Beginningless empty essence

"When the beginningless empty essence of being gives rise to the vivid display of the nature of being, we manifest physical form, the energy of being. This physical manifestation shimmers between wonderment and bewilderment."

p10, Emailing the Lamas from Afar, Ngakpa Chögyam and Khandro Déchen, Aro Books, 2009, 978-0-9653948-5-7